Cleary lift their fourth trophy of the season with AOH Cup
AOH Cup Final, Cleary Celtic 2 Villa Rovers 1
They played the second half with 10 men – a mighty feat at the end of a long hard season – but Cleary Celtic still managed to claim the AOH Cup with a late, late winning goal against Villa Rovers in Jennings Park.
The last time these sides met in the AOH Cup was in 2023 when Villa won out on penalties after they were tied 4-4 after extra time. It looked like this game was going the distance too with a goal apiece in the first half and none materialising in the second. But as the shadows lengthened in what was a glorious sunny evening and the ninety minutes was up, Mark Hughes found the winner.
There was plenty of drama before that however, starting with the sending off. On the half-hour mark Adam Loughran delivered an excellent corner into the Cleary box. Keeper Joe Goodwill tried to keep the ball out as did Stevie Quinn but the Cleary player handled the ball in the process and was red carded by referee Charlie Broughton. Mark Lennon stepped up for the resulting penalty but aiming for the roof of the net missed the target and five minutes later Cleary took the lead.
Their first goal came from a superb free kick taken by Man-of-the-Match Marty Havern who lofted the ball high over the Villa wall past their unsighted keeper Noel McCoy who was left rooted to the spot as it hit the sweet spot in the roof of the net.
It looked like Cleary would take their narrow lead into the second half but right before the short whistle, Aaron Devlin was through for goal when Goodwill came out to meet him. He took on his man with another penalty probably warranted but Broughton let play continue as Joe Campbell was in behind him and dinked over Goodwill into the net.
The second half was typical end of season cup fare with both sides searching for the winning goal and chances coming and going. Darren Fegan was immense for Villa clearing up countless balls in the air at the back, as was Campbell who came close a number of times. But 10 man Cleary didn’t play like a team with a man down either and when manager John Hogg brought on the vastly experienced Lee Lennon, Benny Coulter and Decky Monaghan late on, they injected urgency into the team.
Monaghan had a few goal chances as the clock wound down but right at the death he forced a parried save by McCoy from a close range effort that fell to the in-rushing Hughes who hit the target with the winning goal.
"It feels great. Its good to finish the season on a high. It’s been a long season and it’s great to get the fourth trophy,” said Cleary captain Fergal Laverty as his team added the AOH Cup to the Mid-Ulster Shield, the Premier Division trophy and the Gerald Kennedy Cup.
"It was going to be a tough game anyway but especially when we were down to 10 men, But I thought still that we controlled most of the game. We had five or six good chances in the second half so I think overall we deserved to win in the end.”
And on the experienced players sprung from the bench Laverty was glad of that quality available.
"It was good to take on experience but we have a big quality squad there and with the likes of Benny and Decky coming off the bench it always gives you a chance. And Marty [Havern] signed for us at the start of this year and any time we’ve played him he’s been unbelievable. He’s probably one of the best players I’ve ever played with and you saw that today – he was just quality.”